either influence friends and enemies or create empire

if country A is enemy or frenemy against country B and country C 

and: 

if country A has a technological advantage over country B and country C 

then country A prefers that country B and country C has access to sufficiently advanced technology so that those countries are sufficiently stable 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

if country A has more strategic understanding than country B 

and country C 

then country A prefers that country B and country C has sufficient strategic understanding so that those countries are sufficiently stable 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

if country A has more competent intelligence services than country B and country C 

then country A prefers that country B and country C has sufficiently competent intelligence services so that those countries are sufficiently stable 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

these circumstances are only valid as long as country A determines that it, if preferable could win any and all wars against country B and country C